Sheppey Light Railway

Brambledown and Harty Road were upgraded to halts in 1905 by the addition to each of a simple platform and waiting hut.

It was inspected by the Board of Trade (Colonel Pringle) in December 1916, but the inspector was unhappy that the loop points in the station were now controlled by two separate ground frames.

The line had a relaxed atmosphere according to recollections of Don Pilcher, the fireman on the last train before the railway closed for all traffic on 4 December 1950.

Unfortunately it proved impossible to find a motor mechanic on Sheppey to maintain it in those early days of internal combustion so the SE&CR had to stay with steam power.

Two were bought in 1905, one for the Sheppey Light and one for the equally remote Hundred of Hoo branch on the other side of the Medway estuary.

54 Waddon, was obtained secondhand from their neighbour and rival, the London Brighton and South Coast Railway.

[5][6][7] In August 1934 the body of a retired chargeman of boilermakers, Henry Bourne, was found alongside the line.

In April 1935 a car collided with a train on an ungated level crossing in Station Road, MInster, killing one man (James Mongi), and seriously injuring three others.

[9] On 4 August 1935 a body was found next to the line near Leysdown, identified at the inquest as Frank Towndrow (62) of London.

The verdict was accidental death, though the railway was encouraged to take steps to prevent people wandering on the line.